How to Use Promoted Posts on Facebook To Increase Visibility and Gain More Customers

I have a love/hate relationship sometimes with Facebook! It is an amazing tool that connects 1 BILLION plus people in ways that were never possible before. It gives a whole new meaning to the saying “it’s a small world”. We now have the ability to connect with people that we would never, in the ordinary course of life, connect with! Bottom line…it’s a huge marketplace and, as business owners, we can’t afford to simply write it off.

I am, like many others, a little frustrated with them and decided to do something about it! In fact, I built, and am offering a super-affordable (like $9!) mini-course called Promoted Posts Domination to help even the playing field on your behalf and help you triple+ your Facebook engagement. More on that a little later…

Okay, the problem…you already know that your Facebook posts don’t get the visibility and reach they once did. Whereas once upon a time you could post an update to your page and reach every one of your fans, paying for extended reach has become a way to reach more of our fan base.

And according to Ad Age, Facebook has acknowledged that organic reach is only going to continue to drop:

“We expect organic distribution of an individual page’s posts to gradually decline over time as we continually work to make sure people have a meaningful experience on the site.”

Fortunately, Facebook does offer ways to increase your visibility, although these options will cost you. Business owners have the option to advertise their page or business through Facebook ads, as well as the option to increase the reach of updates through the use of promoted posts (I won’t cover sponsored stories here as, come April 2014, they will be no more).

Promoted posts show up in your newsfeed as ‘sponsored’; however the fact that they are in your newsfeed at all (rather than in the sidebar) is a great reason to favor using promoted posts rather than ads to advertise to your existing fans. Keep in mind that unlike with Facebook ads, promoted posts can only be shown to people who like your page, and their friends.

For just a few dollars, you can extend the reach of your posts significantly, increasing engagement with your current fans, and potentially gaining new ‘likes’ when their friends see the post.

So, why exactly would you use promoted posts? What types of posts are worthwhile promoting? Let’s take a look.

What Types of Posts Should You Promote?

Generally speaking, promoted posts should be reserved for ‘money’ posts: posts that have a strong call to action, and which are likely to result in some kind of measurable payoff.

Posts that many marketers pay to have promoted include:

Contest posts

Discount/coupon posts (particularly effective if you promote a discount for 1st time customers)

Posts promoting a free webinar

Posts that encourage people to sign up for your email list

Posts that have the potential to go viral; starting them off with a little promotion can get the ball rolling.

When Should You Promote a Post?

Jay Behr, author of bestselling book Youtility, gives some great suggestions regarding when to ‘stir’ (aka promote) a Facebook post.

S – Shelf-Life. It may take some time for your post to get promoted to your audience, so will the post still be relevant and timely even in a few days?

T – Time. Give your post some time to accumulate organic reach before you pay for reach. Jay suggests waiting at least 6 hours to make sure your post has achieved most of its organic views, and only then to promote it.

I – Impact. What is the intended impact of your post? If you’re going to be paying for it, make sure you have included a call to action that will help achieve your intended goal.

R – Results. What kind of organic results are you getting with your post? Try to promote posts that are going to give you results: a 1% engagement rate is a good rule of thumb when deciding which posts will give you the best bang for your buck.

Keep in mind that one of the benefits of promoting a post – besides obviously getting in front of more eyes – is that your post accumulates likes, shares and comments each time you promote it. This increases your social credibility and thereby increases the chances of someone saying, ‘Wow, 1000 others like this, maybe I will too!’.

So back to my mini-course Promoted Posts Domination. I have been using Facebook Promoted Posts ultra-effectively for a long time now. I know the “in’s and out’s” and the tips and tricks to get the maximum return on your investment.

I put together a mini-course (5 video-based lessons that you can do in under an hour) called Promoted Posts Dominationand purposefully made it affordable to EVERYONE by pricing it at only $9 (that’s a cheeseburger and fries!).

That means if you are serious at all about using Facebook Promoted Posts you have no excuse for not getting my course. I am going to save you $9 on your very first post and make your money back for you dozens of times over. Simply click the graphic below and whatch my short video on what you get in the course.

Great post, Kim! I am checking out your course now as I could improve in this area. Do you discuss pixel tracking in the course? I would like to start promoting my blog posts with opt in at the bottom and track leads generated.Look what Adam Dukes just posted..8 Ways We Are Not Like The Other Marketing Agencies

Funny you should say, “Are you one who keeps thinking about doing something, yet never actually starting it.” Well, that’s me and Facebook. I keep thinking about registering and creating a page, but still haven’t done it. I’ve read so much negativity regarding it. I’m on Google+ and love it. Another reason for not signing up to Facebook is I don’t want to be on too many social media sites.

By the way, which do you recommend, a Facebook Group, or a Facebook page for businesses?
Thanks.

Really nice article Kim. We have learned a few lessons on our path to promoting posts via Facebook for clients. We have found that people love posts that are emotionally driven. This can range from issues related to our area like water conservation to humor. I have heard “Content is King” However we find that building relationships and being real tends to create a stronger connection. This can be done with high quality images of clients, office parties ect. The response tends to be stronger when used with contest and what not. The other cool thing that we can impact is our own sites SEO. by building links from Facebook to oru landing pages when running promotions we can directly increase our sites performance in Google which is really great. I have an article helping to explain SEO and not being a “Spammer!”. Thanks again for the post. Cheers, Shawn Altman Click to Check out Off Page SEO

Dear Kim Garst:
Wow I wrote a long and in-depth letter to you and it didn’t even give me a chance to correct, it dumped one hour of hard work, bummer. I am an independent Singer/Songwriter, and have been on top of the charts all summer long and now so far fall and winter as well. I want help with Social Media, and I don’t have the time any longer to do it all myself. It is way to large for me now. I just received three new nominations by my Singer/Songwriter peers at Nashville Universe. I am hoping to win one of the three nominations in Nashville on Music Row from my peers. Male Vocalist Of The Year. Song Of The Year, Down The Interstate, 24 weeks on The Top 50 Rock Charts, and crossing over still, and giving, giving. Also nominated for Video Of The Year, for Down The Interstate. You can check it out by following the links on my Website through Star1 to my Official site as a CMT Artist. If you follow this ULR link, http://viacom.tv/music/star1/tony-watson.php. My three official videos there just this morning at the 1.5 month mark hit, 60800 views and climbing faster and faster by the day. I recommend that you speak to my manager and CEO of Star1 Records, and Star One Entertainment, Miss Laura Marie Patterson. Easy to find her on FaceBook, where she is all day long. I am being Pro-Active, also as her Partner to find folks who want to help out the little guy, and have some fun doing it. You need to hear what we are doing, as we have the industry at large, i.e.; the Big Record Companies shaking in their boots. With Social Media, we can steer our ship right around them with really great talent, me included with nearly no money. All sale proceeds 100% goes to the Artist at Star1. So we don’t advertise for iTunes, they are takers. I run adds there but I am getting all of my music a little at a time out of their reach. We really need someone like You!! who can help steer, fan’s away from that Monster, and just come directly to our site and using all of the same tools, PayPal etc. are available there for their enjoyment to pick up one brand new Hot! song and dedicate the money directly to the Artist. Can you help Please? I want Top Shelf, Independent, no ties to the biggies. Example the Billboard Top 200 Is all bought and paid for from the large Labels. No Chance to get on that Chart, but if you go to the DRT Charts, you will find me there in the trenches fighting for the top spot. Last week my new song, “We Danced In The Dust” was #48 In the Top 50 Country Mainstream. DRT stands for the Digital Radio Transmission of all songs played in all of the US Countries. Think about this statement!! This is the true Charts, where you earn your way from true listeners, and spins from DJ’s who are forced to Spin your record, They Want Too!! now are you excited. I am, and my Christian Spirit tells me you are the right person to hash some of this out with. My FaceBook Campaign just finished the first of December. I was holding back to re-issue the campaign, and was in search of some one to help us not get ripped off. To really get first class treatment and an affordable price. Can you do this for me, and all my Star1 Family members. We pay ourselves, bottom line, and the simple truth. What a mission statement. I have to go to work. You have all my info, and enough to get in touch with my manager Laura Marie Patterson. I say Go For It? Help Please!!
Kindest Regards, and Special Blessings,
Tony Watson